Who is Sebastien Foucan?
A frantic escape from a gambling mob, through winding streets of a market, a quick jump over a fence onto a construction site, past a roaring bulldozer unloading sand, a brief pause, wild shots from a gun..another run from a bulldozer then onto steel beams, a secret agent hot on his tail, a hoisted two footed kick to a site worker who falls to his timely death, an impressive explosion, two precision shots from a gun to dispatch security personnel, a massive leap onto a load of pipes suspended far above the ground, a precarious climb onto a crane, empty gun-clicks leading to the gun being thrown to be imbalanced by the very same gun that was thrown back at him, a brief fight with the pesky agent, a series of jumps back to the ground – from crane to crane, to rooftop, down a flight of stairs, through an under construction floor while aptly lunging and leaping over a table, sidestepping down an empty elevator shaft, rushing towards any exit to only precisely pull himself through a small opening in the ceiling, two desperate yet unbelievable jumps aided by an elevator to another lower section, a few more controlled falls to the ground, a frenzied run through traffic, a relaxed jog through to the Kenyan embassy, a kick and fall to the ground, being dragged through a hail of bullets as a captive, suffering a bullet wound to the leg, a crash through a door and shove through a window, a final showdown between the agent and security forces and a bullet to the chest with a hollywood-esque explosion yet again and the scene was over. Those were his 9 minutes in Casino Royale. His name is Sebastien Foucan. But who is this man?
Sebastien (born May 24, 1974 in Paris, France) is a French actor of Guadeloupean descent and is one of the founders of free-running, a sport he created along with his friends including David Belle. He has been influenced by the art of parkour and is generally considered to be a “second generation” founder of parkour along with David Belle. He is married with one child and lives in France. He was born to Guy and Lydie Foucan, with Caribbean origins (Guadeloupe), and brought up with his 4 brothers and 1 sister.
He is well known as an ambassador for free-running to many countries and is generally considered to represent free-running. Well known for his views on the philosophy behind free-running, he also stresses the need for proper training in the basics of free-running, not only for safety, but also to maintain the positive appearance of the activity in the public eye.
He came to prominence in the United Kingdom after the showing of Mike Christie’s Jump London documentary on Channel 4 in September 2003, and the subsequent documentary Jump Britain. Besides this, Sébastien appears in the music video for Madonna’s 2005 single, Hung Up. Foucan also helped K-Swiss develop the Ariake, the first free-running and parkour shoe in a line of 5 models.
What more can we expect from him in the future?? Well..he has taken many initiatives in the name of free-running and has set up two charities (for information on both please visit http://www.sportrelief.com/ and http://www.righttoplay.com/) and of course we can expect more movies! He has been slated in a role for the film “The Tournament” starring next to Robert Carlyle, which should be getting released sometime this year hopefully. Sebastien also encourages people to follow their own way and has plans of doing so through a Free-running academy and Free-running Tour for which preparations are now taking place.
I’d like to add that for a man who practices a physical and mental philosophy which may not seem really useful at times to others, he has achieved more than either of us have and I wish him good luck with his future endeavours!
